A runway intrusion may be defined as any occurrence at an airport involving an aircraft, vehicle, person, or object on the ground that creates a collision hazard or results in a loss of separation with an aircraft taking off, landing, or intending to land. Such occurrences are obviously problematic, and are more likely to occur when, for example, a flight crew is unfamiliar with an airport environment resulting in a loss of overall awareness of current position. Furthermore, given the vast number of airports, it is not likely that flight crews will be familiar with all of them, and even if they are, they may lose overall awareness due to, for example, low visibility conditions.
Currently, an Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning Systems (EGPWS) and a Runway Awareness and Advisory Systems (RAAS) include runway selection algorithms, some of which use a relatively simple test approach, while others use a weighted number approach. Unfortunately, these approaches may not be entirely suitable in all situations. There are situations when two runways meet the simple test approach when it is obvious to the flight crew that one of the runways is preferable. For example, if the aircraft is positioned at the centerline of a first runway, and there is a crossing runway that is offset by only nineteen degrees, runway choice should remain undecided if the aircraft is inside both runway boundaries. The weighted test approach always yields a runway selection even when, in fact, no decision should be made. In the above example, if an aircraft enters the intersecting runway area from a taxiway at approximately the midpoint (i.e. nine degrees off the first runway and ten degrees off the second runway), the first runway should not be chosen, and runway choice should remain undecided.
Considering the foregoing, it would be desirable to provide a system and method that reliably selects one of a plurality (i.e., two or more) of runways using a runway scoring method. Other desirable features and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.